Fans of Cuban regional editions got a Christmas surprise from Diadema S.p.a., the Italian market’sexclusive distributor for Habanos S.A. It’s a new La Escepción called the Don José, presented in the Hermosos No. 4 format: a 5x48 robusto that’s petite by today’s standards. An interesting choice since some folks felt the previous release, a panatela dubbed the Selectos Finos, was a bit too slim and powerful. Based on market feedback, we were expecting something along the lines of the Romeo Wide Churchill or Monte Edmundo—a little fatter, a little longer to let the ligero breathe. Then again, this being a clash of two idiosyncratic cultures, we’re lucky we didn’t get a culebras.

We keep hearing about how bad Cuban tobacco crops have been lately, but there’s no evidence of that here. The wrapper on the Don José is a gorgeous, uniform dark chocolate color that’s dripping with oils. Construction is above average, with relatively little variation from sample to sample. The pre-light aroma is lovely, with notes of hay and antique shop wood but lacking any pungency. Nothing so far says this cigar is overly young or crying out for age.

Supposedly, these are tough to come by. Retailers are prohibited from shipping them out of Italy, but under threat of what specific punishment we don’t know. With 4,000 numbered boxes of 25 flooding a relatively small market, it’s not surprising we had little trouble laying our hands on some. (We won’t divulge the retailer or any other specifics just in case The Man takes this whole ‘exclusive’ thing a lot more seriously than he should.)

These are no bargain, by the way. MSRP is €375 per box, or about $420 US as of this writing. That’s about $17 each for those of you as bad at math as we are. Except due to taxes and currency conversion, we actually paid a hair less than $600 for the box. That's painful.

We might wait and see what happens with these before contemplating a large purchase, since the last La Escepción sat on the shelves and ended up being discounted after a bit, though the market’s somewhat unjustifiably cool reception perhaps had more to do with the panatela format than the cigar itself.

The Don José is a unique animal, distinctly Cuban in heritage but blended to be richer and stronger than average. The most notable thing about this cigar is hat is exhibits a unique 'twang' we've only ever before encountered in the original release of the Edmundo Dantes Conde 109. Everyone on our panel identified it, yet none were able to adequately liken it to anything specific. If you put a gun to our heads, we might say it's like a whiff of burning perfume, which sounds unpleasant but it's not; it's fascinating.

The burn is not perfect. A few too many relights left the cigar a little hotter and exhibiting more charry flavor than we'd like. However, it was also delicious and complex, with balsa wood, maple sugar and red game meat intonations with roasted nut character as well. It was also alternately mildly spicy and creamy, and as the cigar progressed, the maple sugar evolved into something more whisky-like, while the woody notes became more like a whisky barrel. Very interesting and fun to smoke. Yet despite all that, there's an underlying rawness that suggests this will have a lot more to offer after five or six years of aging.

The La Escepción Don José is indeed an excellent cigar—one of the best regional editions we’ve smoked, and something we’d love to see in regular production. We wouldn’t necessarily stretch our budgets to afford these, since they aren’t twice as enjoyable as a lot of regular production robustos. But if you can afford them easily and are in the market for a rich, bracing but refined robusto, these fit the bill perfectly.

THE DETAILS

5x48CubaW: CubaB: CubaF: Cuba€15

THE HIGHLIGHTS

Very well rolled with a gorgeous, oily wrapper. Refined pre-light aromas of antique wood. Delicious, complex flavors ranging from perfume to whisky-like. But wow...expensive.